After American football team the Kansas City Chiefs knocked out the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 to reach the Super Bowl, Alessandra Madrid began shopping for an outfit. Not that Madrid is a fan of the Chiefs, or the San Francisco 49ers, who they face on Sunday. The 32-year-old didn’t check out the official NFL gear for her upcoming Super Bowl shindig. Instead, she went on the hunt for clothes inspired by her favourite artist: Taylor Swift. Ever since Swift began dating the Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce, Swifties have been showing up for the team.
Madrid visited TikTok and Etsy and, after swiping past “Swiftie Super Bowl” and “In My Super Bowl Era” merchandise, she opted for a $46 (£36) red sweatshirt with “Swiftie” stretched across the front and Kelce’s name and jersey number, 87, on the back. “I wanted something a little bit more long-lasting, just in case they don’t win,” Madrid confesses.
The sweatshirt is one of thousands of Swift-inspired Super Bowl items available ahead of this Sunday’s big game. With Swifties like Madrid supporting their idol and the Chiefs, many independent merchants have capitalised on the fandom’s interest in the game.
One such entrepreneur is Hayley Williams, an Atlanta-based lawyer, who began selling clothing on Etsy as a side hustle. After a colleague suggested hawking merchandise for football-crazed Swifites, Williams initially resisted. “At first I thought: that sounds too niche to possibly be successful … I was very wrong.” Since the Chiefs reached the Super Bowl two weekends ago, she says she has sold eighteen “Go Taylor’s Boyfriend” sweatshirts at $35 each.
While the world has seen plenty of celebrity-athlete couples, Swift is in an entirely different stratosphere of fame (her music is streamed in America more than the entire genres of jazz and classical). Many Swifties obsess over her life’s smallest details – such as whether she fixed a chipped tooth – and her relationship with Kelce is catnip for devotees.